Tag Archives: religion

A legislative body consisting of people chosen to act and speak on behalf of a wider group.

Democracy:

A system of government by the whole population or eligible members of a state.

As we close out the runoffs in the primaries for the midterm elections, I thought it might be a good idea for the voters to judge on the state of our union. To do this, I have taken the preamble to our constitution and highlighted in red the keywords that our forefathers established as a reason to create the document.

In order to judge the representation of our democracy, I thought it only fair that we should look at the intentions our forefathers had for our institutions of government and contrast them to what we see today. After all, our elected representatives all swear to uphold the constitution as they take office.

Preamble

We the Peopleof the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for common defense, promote thegeneral Welfare, andsecure theBlessings of Libertyto ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

WHO ?

“We the People”ordained (ordered) this constitution. The men who put it together and signed it were representatives of “We the People.” In other words, they were acting and speaking on behalf of the people they represented. When they signed the constitution, it was with the permission of the people they represented.

Why?

In order to form a more perfect union; right from the beginning of our country’s history the, “We the People” of that time, ordered (ordained) the men they sent to represent them to create a document that would promote unity.

Over two centuries later, we find the men and women that we have sent to represent us, (who have sworn to “uphold the Constitution so help me God,”) gridlocked in partisanship. They are no longer representing all of the people, but are instead representing a political affiliation and those who belong to it, leaving “We the People” of today, fragmented and more distant from a perfect union.

Establish Justice:

Some synonyms are: fairness, impartiality, righteousness, reasonableness, even handedness, honesty, integrity, and righteousness. While the synonyms can stand on their own meanings, they, as well as justice, have a common thread: equity. Equity is derived from the word equal. Putting it into the context of a constitution, it’s easy to see that “We the People” at the time our constitution was ordered (ordained), wanted their constitution to be applied equally among all the people of their Republic.

Our founding fathers established an institution of government called the Supreme Court. Their job was to settle any dispute of equity among the people and their constitution. Today, our Supreme Court is made up of nine judges. These nine judges, and the judge’s before them in the last 50 years have left me scratching my head in bewilderment.

In my mind, a judge should be a person of wisdom. In other words, they should be a person who has knowledge of, and experience with, information. Knowing how that information is to be properly applied is what makes them wise. I’ve heard it stated more simply that: “wisdom is the ability to use knowledge correctly.” It seems the prerequisite for becoming a Supreme Court Judge has been narrowed to the candidate’s experience with the system of judgment rather than the wisdom of the subject being judged.

Having said that, that’s not what troubles me. What troubles me is a five to four decision. In fact, anything less than a unanimous decision causes me pause. If the people who are sitting on the Supreme Court are applying their wisdom to a standard, and this standard is the intent of the Constitution, (the Preamble), and all nine are wise, then it seems to this simple minded person their conclusion should be the same. Therein lies the problem; that little word “if.” “If” they are all wise…. ‘if” they are applying their wisdom to a standard.

Looking through the preamble to the constitution, it’s easy to see the standard our forefathers established for the purpose of their document. Equally visible are the guards to protect their document. It was not the Supreme Court, a King, a group of lawyers, or a lobby group; it was the governed; you and I, the voters.

It seems all too clear to me the Supreme Court has been infected by ideology, (their own personal views), and “We the People” of today must exercise our wisdom in judging this court. We must do our due diligence to ensure that those who appoint these judges, the Presidents, do so in a wise manor.

Wisdom is the standard for our President. ——The ability to use knowledge correctly. —-

Insure domestic tranquility:

Tranquil…..Free from commotion, showing no signs of anxiety or agitation.

Our constitution was established to insure tranquility in our country. Our forefathers put together a document that gave power to the governed to institute bodies of government that are to insure domestic tranquility. I honestly don’t know where to start the contrast of the intentions for our government and the results we are getting today.

Not a day has gone by in my lifetime when a member of the elected representatives of the people of our country hasn’t condemned or ridiculed another elected representative. Daily, in every media outlet, we see our President, our members of the Senate, and our members of the House of Representatives, committing high crimes and misdemeanors (grounds for impeachment) with their partisan and divisive language.

All of our elected representatives are under a sworn oath to follow the Constitution. I believe a reprimand is long overdue. “We the People” must reiterate our orders of domestic tranquility.

Provide for common defense:

The United States military force is second to none. History records many great armies, but none have reached the heights of superiority over their adversaries like the military of the U.S. I think it’s safe to say that our forefathers would be proud of the way the Constitution, which they constructed, provided for the common defense of their successors.

If George Washington had enjoyed the military superiority over his adversaries that we have today, the fight for independence would have been short and sweet. As much as we would like to rewrite history and give our ancestors the benefits of the tools they provided for us, we know that could never happen. However, we do have the responsibility to manage these tools and ensure they are in good repair, so we can provide common defense for ourselves and our successors.

Our nation’s defense can never be a secondary issue. We can build the greatest economy with the highest standard of living and with all the perks and benefits a society could possibly spoil itself with, but if someone can take it from us, all we’ve done is build it for them. Nothing we do or achieve will be safe without the means to protect it.

Much to our shame, we have been derelict in our duty to control our representatives who have charge over our military activity. Our military is being used in ways George Washington’s adversaries had used their military superiority; to occupy and control. The commander in chief, (the Presidents since WWII), have commanded our military resources in accordance with their ideology and not the constitution. Posing themselves as a leader on the world stage, they have forgotten their position in our representative democracy; they are not our leaders, they are our representatives.

Our military is the envy of the world. Yet, sometimes it feels like we have the greatest race car ever invented with a driver who just wants to say they’re in control of it, but hasn’t the slightest idea of what it is designed to do. Our military is designed to provide for the common defense of our people. It is designed to win battles that insure the safety of our people. When the battle is over, they disengage and return to a ready position. They are not designed to be a security guard for their enemies’ peace and prosperity; they are designed to win battles.

Diplomacy only works if adversaries believe the contrast between themselves and their enemy. If our military is always taken off the table when offering a peaceful solution to a conflict, it only gives our enemies a false sense of equality when responding to our demands. Therefore, our demands are never met because our representatives have diluted our superior position. Peace through strength only works if you acknowledge your strength and believe in your right to use it.

Our military, as great as it is, cannot provide for the common defense of the world nor should it try, but its greatness should never be downplayed in an attempt to accomplish peace. Our Commander in Chief has no constitutional right to direct our military forces to engage in, or run from, a battle based on an ideology; only for the common defense of “WE the People.”

Promote the general Welfare to ourselves and our Posterity:

Sometimes when looking at the intended purpose of a text, it is easiest to discover its true meaning by looking for the writers reasons for writing it to begin with. The first thing that comes to my mind is ‘The Declaration of Independence,’ where our forefathers declared “independence.” If we as a country have declared our independence, fought a bloody war to obtain that independence, suffered through the economic hardships of a new country to keep our independence, it seems obvious that the people writing this passage wanted independence.

The second thing that comes to mind is the “Preamble“ itself. Preamble can mean many things; such as, introduction, opening, or explanations. All are similar, yet different. In the case of our

Preamble, it was to explain why they were writing the Constitution. The words, “in order to” at the beginning of the Preamble, and the words “do ordain” toward the end, give evidence to its purpose.

I think we can conclude that; the Preamble is an explanation of how the Constitution will work for an independent people.

Putting things back in context, I think it self-evident what the framers of the Constitution wanted: The institutions of the government to promote (not provide) for the general (not the special) welfare (not the success) of the governed.

It was never intended by our forefathers for the government of the United States to:

Provide special people the means to succeed at the expense of the other citizens!

Secure the Blessings of Liberty:

When we think of securing something, especially the government securing something, Fort Knox has to be somewhere in the forefront of our minds. The gold in its vault is said to be the most secured item in the world. So, I think it reasonable to assume that our federal government has the ability and the experience to secure something it deems valuable to “We the People.”

So, what is this “blessings of Liberty” our forefathers thought so valuable?

I think it self-evident, and so did they.

In “The Declaration of Independence,” the second paragraph reads: ” We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” They go on in this paragraph to state that the reason for government is to secure these rights.

The framers of the documents that forged our country had experienced firsthand oppressive institutions of government and religion, and it was not their intent to form either. They did not want their new country ruled by a government or a religion, but rather by the virtues of the governed; instilled in them by their Creator.

These men were not godless. In fact, they were men of great faith. They believed in, and were acting upon, their Judeo-Christian values; one Creator and His power to rule and bless His creation. The Government, as designed by the framers of the constitution, is to protect our religious freedoms.

We are endowed by our Creator, making us the blessed, and our Creator the source of those blessings. The government is instituted to protect this relationship without mediation.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye, What Say Ye The People?

The State of the Union

(The governed perspective based on the intent of the preamble of the Constitution.)

A more perfect union: ….. “We the People”—- find; a high level of divisive partisanship.

Established justice: ….. “We the People”—–find; unwise judgments without equity.

Common defense: ….. “We the People”—–find; a child can penetrate our borders.

General welfare: ….. “We the People”—–find; provisions for special people to succeed.

Security of blessings: ….. “We the People”—–find; usurpation by government.

Voting is not a right, it is not a privilege, it is; a responsibility!

It’s all on us. We can complain about our government, we can curse God, and we can yell about our neighbors, but if we worship only our Creator, love our neighbors as ourselves, and vote responsibly, “We the People”—–May find; the State of the Union is STRONG.Thanks for reading, I hope it gave you some good insight.

The 56 men who signed their name to the Declaration of Independence of the United States some 238 years ago were more than just men who had a grievance against the government. As Benjamin Franklin so aptly put it, the situation these men found themselves in was at a point of no return. The men, their families, and the entire population of the 13 Colonies who supported them were making a powerful enemy.

Great Britain and King George enjoyed a dominant role on the world stage. It was a stage where people were told what they could and could not do; where nobility and pedigree falsely elevated their value to creation and deemed all others to be their indentured slaves. —- False gods declaring their superiority at the end of a rifle!

These 56 men who dared to guard the gates of liberty had had enough. Staying subjects to tyrants and the privileged would not continue; they would rather die. Patrick Henry’s, “Give me liberty or give me death,” was more than political rhetoric; it was a war cry. A cry of war against the British Empire and all it stood for.

Our forefathers knew the dangers of dependency on government, and were willing to risk all they had by declaring–Independence

Most things worth having usually come with sacrifice, patience, and diligence. King George and Great Britain did not respond to the declaration with a letter of apology. They did not pray God’s speed and blessings for this ‘Grand Experiment,’ but rather sent warships and troops. The fight for independence was one of great sacrifice for many. They paid the price with their own blood and treasure. With the initial sacrifices made, patience must now prevail.

It had been reasoned by members of the Continental Congress, that it would be better to have one governing tyrant 3,000 miles away than 3,000 governing tyrants one mile away. With this in the back of their minds, they took over 11 years to produce their new country’s governing policy: The Constitution of the United States of America.

Their patience has been rewarded. This document has not only stood the test of time but has been an example for those yearning to breathe free for more than two centuries. Now, with many sacrifices made by so many over the centuries, and the patience of our forefathers reaping the benefits to their successors, it is crucial that, “We the People’ are diligent to sustain our independence from our government.

When we enter this world, we are totally dependent. If other people neglect to take care of us; meeting our essential needs. We will not stay in existence for very long. From the basics of food, clothing, and shelter, to being taught to walk and talk, we are totally reliant upon someone other than ourselves. As we progress from being an infant to a young child, a natural order of progression is revealed. We have gone from crying to get what we want, to pulling chairs to the counter-top so we can reach the cookie jar and get what we want ourselves.

This natural order of progression continues our entire life. We are provided what we need by others while we are learning to provide those needs for ourselves. Once we can provide for ourselves, we are expected to help provide for others while they are learning. The natural order is to be independent of everyone except our Creator. To ask someone to provide for you when you can provide for yourself is more than wrong; it is evil, and over time, will destroy whatever society we have developed.

We Americans are a peculiar bunch; we will give the shirt off our backs to anyone who needs it, but if someone tries to take that shirt without our permission, his hand will be slapped away. To keep our independence as a people, we must take back our responsibility to provide for those around us who cannot provide for themselves. We must teach them to pull the chair up to the counter-top to get their own cookie,and unitedly reject the “usurpation” by our government for those who refuse to provide for themselves and cry to it for help.

Usurpation was the main grievance our founding fathers had with King George.(Usurpation is when a person, organization, or in our case, a government wrongfully puts themselves in a position of authority.) When we were children, if another child tried to boss us, we would say things like: “you’re not my mother,” or “who died and left you boss?” As adults, we must say to those who wish to usurp authority over over us, “there is only one God, and I am convinced it is not you.” The government of the United States is not our God!!!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. –that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” -The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America.-

The above is the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. In it, our forefathers declared our dependence on our Creator, and only our Creator for: our life, our liberty, and our pursuit of happiness. The government is instituted by the dependents of the Creator to secure these rights.

I would paraphrase all of this into one simple sentence. Our forefathers believed the people of this nation were to be dependent on God and God alone, and the institutions of government were put into place to secure the independence of the people from anything other than God.

Our forefathers declared these things to be self-evident, and I could not agree more. I think it is self-evident that the first order of our government is to ensure that we do not become dependent on anything other than God Himself, and that includes the government. To not do so would be in direct conflict with the Declaration of Independence.

The cycle of dependency

God creates

God provides

Creation is blessed

Creation is spoiled

Creation becomes independent of God

Creation destroys itself

God creates

“You shall have no other gods before Me,” was not a suggestion. This mandate is critical to the existence of all creation.

Creation can only be dependent on its Creator.

If you have ever read through the Old Testament, you will have no problem correlating how God and His creation are to coexist. The children of Israel were a “Chosen People.” But chosen for what? It was chosen to be an example to all creation. The nation of Israel went through the above cycle over and over. Israel would be in need……. God would meet their need….. Israel would be blessed and thankful….. Israel would become complacent…… Israel would lean on its own wisdom………. Israel would find itself captive to something other than God….. Israel would cry out in need….. God would meet their need. If you have never read through the Old Testament with this in mind, do so. It will give you a greater depth of God’s mercy and grace.

Today we find ourselves on a slippery slope. We have a great nation blessed by God, but we have become complacent. We have begun to think ourselves to be the reason our nation is great. Our institutions of government have become too powerful and self-indulgent. It seems our nation is on a neck- breaking pace to make everyone a dependent on some form of the government. This puts our liberties in great jeopardy because it violates the critical mandate of our creator; “thou shalt have no other gods before Me”

If we do not reverse this trend, future generations will be dependent on the creation’s institutions (governments). They will be lost in their ability to manipulate what God has created and will think themselves independent of the Creator. The Bible refers to this as the vanity of the mind (emptiness of the mind),

One voting left the other voting right while at the same time doingthe right thing is left out.

If a picture is worth a 1000 words, the above caption speaks volumes. If we look closely, we can see a donkey in a voting booth on the left side, and an elephant in a voting booth on the right side. These two animals were trained and led into these booths, most likely lured in by incentives; perhaps a carrot or something sweet. Letting the imagination go when comparing this picture with our current voting process would be very entertaining but, I will restrain myself for the sake of a more helpful conversation.

I want to spend this month’s culture segment on one word, the word that is being thrown around in the media as something “we the people” should just accept. The word is…. “partisanship.” Partisanship as described in the Oxford dictionary of English is: prejudice in favor of a particular cause; bias. Webster’s dictionary describes partisan as: an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, esp. A person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance. Synonyms for partisanship are words like; bias, onesided, prejudiced, bigoted, and narrowminded. And as if this wasn’t enough to make us leery of being partisan, patriotic phrases such as, ”the United States of America,” ”united we stand,” ”one nation under God indivisible,” or,”out of many one,” seem to be in direct contrast to this word.

Holding our principles unwavering is our patriotic duty and will make our country stronger as long as those principles are also held in a uniting fashion. Holding principles in an exclusionary manner only pits American against American at a time when we need all hands on deck in order to keep our country afloat. I am convinced Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Libertarians have an equal amount of good and bad ideas, and I would prefer to take the good ideas from all parties and leave all the bad ideas behind.

When we pledge allegiance to our flag, we are pledging allegiance to the Republic our flag stands for. To give allegiance to parties or organizations above our country for any reason is not only unpatriotic; it is treasonous. Regardless of the political party we most agree with, we must never give up our independence. We do not vote by proxy, we must all do it individually. Individual responsibility to country will put our nations’ house back in order.
And that is my soapbox; individual responsibility.

There are two things I want to accomplish with this article. First, to all American Patriots; I want to share my motivation to do everything I can to preserve our country. Simply put, I think of a soldier. A soldier puts on their boots every morning and goes to a place where they can best defend the liberties of our country’s citizens. They have the resolve to accomplish their mission or die trying. They are taking care of all the dirty and dangerous jobs.

Defending those same liberties our soldiers are willing to die for, requires that the citizens themselves stand up and defend against those who wish to take them away from within. To leave our job undone is an insult to the men and women in uniform.

Second, to those who are faith based, I want to share some thoughts for you to consider. “To the angel of the church of the United States write.” ……………. Just saying, what if!

Let’s consider some” talents” we as a Church have been entrusted with. Freedom of religion, freedom to assemble peaceably, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to petition the Government, and that’s just in the first amendment of the constitution. As important as these are they are secondary to the concept of self governing.
Our forefathers had Divine insight in setting up a Representative Democracy, which means we have a government “by the people and for the people.” Our forefathers did not have complete confidence in the people’s ability to govern themselves. They knew the people were smart enough, talented enough, hardworking and strong enough, but as evidenced in their writings they were all concerned about the sustainability of the people’s virtues.

I believe that God has blessed the United States of America for the purpose of blessing the entire world and that He left the sustainability of the virtues of the people to the influence of His Church inside a representative democracy. To put it bluntly, the Church has a critical role in defending the freedoms of the citizens of our country, it is to example the virtues and exercise the rights God has given to the people of this great nation. Our nation has approximately 320 million people, of that 320 million, 80% profess a Judeo Christian affiliation, with 25% of the nation’s population being under 18 years of age that leaves approximately 192 million voting age people who are influenced by Judeo Christian values. In the 2012 Presidential election, there were about 127 million votes cast, leaving about 113 million voting aged people unaccounted for, of which 80% of them profess to have a Judeo Christian affiliation.

With numbers like these I can’t help but wonder if many of the members of the church of the United States of America have buried their talents and are waiting the Lord’s return. The question is, what is the state of our reunion? Will we the Church be weighed and found wanting? Will the Lord say ”well done good and faithful servants” or will He call us evil and lazy?

It is not my desire to belittle or shame anyone. My hope is to inspire those who love God and country to be engaged, alert, and well informed. A goal for every American should be to go to the voting booth with the dilemma of voting for the best of two goods.

Keep in mind with the best of two goods we can’t lose, but with the least of two evils we can’t win

The Grand Experiment: The United States of America
At the time of our country’s birth, the idea that people could actually rule themselves had never been given serious thought, much less tried on such a large scale. Throughout recorded history, it was known among the elite of mankind that the earth was flat, drilling holes in a person’s head would relieve their headache, and masses of people must be ruled by those of superior status.
People doing the right things without being told what to do or think could not possibly work. If it did work, it would mean all men were equal, and all men being equal would allow them to pursue their own interests and dreams regardless of their bloodline.
The pundits of this experiment were all expecting this grand scheme to fall apart as soon as hardship came upon the people, but the people of this country had already endured the hardships of an oppressive King. Fueled by their hope of freedom, our forefathers were prepared for any external obstacles. The only question unanswered would be: could “we the people” control our freedom.
Our forefathers had firsthand experience with oppressive rule, and were well aware of the perils uncharted territories would bring. They proceeded with prayerful caution in setting up a Representative Democracy. George Washington would write; “the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty… Is finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”
The signatures of the 56 men who signed the declaration of independence put them “all in.” If this Republic did not work, (Benjamin Franklin writes) “we must, indeed all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall hang separately.” They would pay with their very lives. Our forefathers had faith in doing what was right, and they knew their Creator would protect and sustain them and their new Republic as long as they and the people retained their virtue.
The virtue they and I are talking about is the willingness of the people to treat each other in a just and moral way. Everyone is equal and our rights are given by our Creator not our government or a special group of people. Thomas Jefferson writes, “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed the only firm basis a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?”
“Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherent to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.” – Patrick Henry-
Allegiance to our country while holding the morals of our creator is the catalyst that keeps our government in check. John Adams echoes this theme as he writes, “no free government can stand without virtue in the people, and a lofty spirit of patriotism… Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The institutions of our governments are corrupt and inept, not because of the people who hold the office, but because of the moral decay of the constituents they serve. The culture of “we the people” reveals our preference to the emotional drama of opinion over the tranquil peace of truth.
“Neither the wisest constitution, nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue.” –Samuel Adams If “we the people” are to have a long and prosperous future with liberty and justice for all; this is where we must start the remodel of our Republic. We must strengthen our moral resolve.
I have dubbed myself a faith based political writer. My intentions are not to belt people with the Bible, my Christian faith, or my Judeo Christian theology, but rather to bear witness to the truths they offer our Republic. I’m starting a series of books addressing the many issues that hinder the prosperity of our country. Starting with the divisions we find in our alliance to our fellow countrymen, the issue of unwanted children has been a canker in our Republic for almost 50 years, and it has driven wedges so deep into our citizenry we have become a sitting target for those who wish us harm. It is my opinion that our country cannot sustain its sovereignty with such great a divide. We must as a people with overwhelming consensus resolve this issue. In my first book, “Abortion the True Cost to America” I write about what I believe are self- evident truths that we all must deal with. I truly believe that if we as a people will solve this issue with an honest conscience, the blessings our forefathers talked about will manifest themselves in our nation’s prosperity.Visit https://jdsharp.net/ for more information. You can also purchase books at Amazon in e-book and paperback.http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_13?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=abortion%20the%20true%20cost%20to%20america&sprefix=abortion+the+%2Caps%2C183

Happy Birthday America!
May God bless America my home sweet home and may our forefathers rest in peace.